-Citizens for Justice and Peace and The Wire Data suggests that areas in eastern Uttar Pradesh, especially PM Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, had 60% excess deaths during the pandemic relative to 2019. The Wire is grateful to Murad Banaji for his help with preparing this report. Data collected and analysed by Citizens for Justice and Peace, a human rights organisation, and independent experts shows deaths in the Purvanchal region of eastern...

-OutlookIndia.com The Anganwadi workers alleged that they have been deprived of their minimum wage and held the AAP government accountable for making false promises over the ages.  “Jab mahilaon ko ghar ke kaam chhodkar sadkon pe aandolan karne nikalna padta hai, toh ye koi maamuli baat nahi hoti,” said Rajni, an Anganwadi worker from Birij Puri, Delhi. (When women leave their household chores to protest on the street, it’s not a petty...

-NDTV.com Rashad Hussain, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, or IRF, tweeted "hijab bans in schools violate religious freedom" New Delhi: A US government body that monitors and reports on religious freedom abroad has criticised Karnataka amid the row over Muslim students' demand for wearing hijab on campus. Rashad Hussain, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, or IRF, tweeted "hijab bans in schools violate religious freedom", referring to the...

-Hindustan Times In his letter dated January 27, chairman of the high powered committee for the Char Dham Pariyojana, Ravi Chopra, has said the union ministry of road transport had ignored recommendations The chairman of a panel set up by the Supreme court to oversee widening of roads under the Char Dham Pariyojana has written to the top court saying he wanted to resign as the road ministry was ignoring the committee’s...

-The Hindu Its lustre is fading as there are threats from emerging social and environmental risks, but the question is how Kerala has long been recognised to have done many things right. For years the darling of development experts, non-governmental organisations and social activists, the ‘Kerala Model’ seemed to show that impressive levels of human development indicators — in health, education and quality of life, comparable even to some rich countries —...